Diabetes News for Oct. 22, 2000 20 to 22% off on books and scales Diabetes Risk Higher With Hepatitis C Milk Controversy Continues Programming Stem Cells Heart Stents Benefit Men And Women US/Japan Differ On Diabetes Drug Test Smoking Linked To Kidney Problems Does Agent Orange Lead To Diabetes?	Subscribe to Diabetes This Week  for free email delivery!

Risk For Diabetes Higher With Hepatitis C

It is not unusual to have an increased risk of developing other diseases or health conditions when you already have one disease. A new study indicates that those who have hepatitis C may experience an increased risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.

The study, which was conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 133; pages 592-599; October 17, 2000). The study was conducted by having 9,800 adults complete a health survey.

Researchers found that 8% of the participants had Type 2 diabetes, and 2% had been infected with the hepatitis C virus. Scientists also found that those who had hepatitis C were 3.1 times more likely to have Type 2 diabetes than those who did not have hepatitis C. It is not yet clear how hepatitis C leads to the development of Type 2 diabetes, and the scientists hope that further research on the matter will be conducted.

Milk Controversy Continues

In a recent edition of this newsletter, we reported on the controversy involving cow's milk and its possible contribution to the development of Type 1 diabetes in children. A recent study promotes the theory that the two are linked.

Doctors at the University of Helsinki, Finland recently published the results of their study in the journal Diabetes (volume 49, pages 1657-1665, October 2000). They studied babies who had relatives with diabetes. After breast-feeding, the babies in the study were given a formula made with or without cow's milk. By three months of age, the babies who had been fed the cow's milk formula had a higher immune response to cow insulin than those who did not have cow's milk.

Although the babies in the two groups did not differ in the ways in which they reacted to human insulin, researchers postulate that some children who are predisposed to diabetes may experience an immune reaction to insulin when they drink cow's milk.

Programming Stem Cells

One of the newest ideas in diabetes research is that of developing stem cells into pancreatic islet cells. Stem cells are cells that have the ability to develop into any kind of cell in the body. A new study suggests that scientists are one step closer to controlling the stem cells' development.

Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard University recently published their study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists tested chemical growth factors on embryonic stem cells, as these cells have the potential of becoming any kind of cell, and also have the ability to survive indefinitely. Eight different growth factors were used to try to get the stem cells to develop into particular cell types.

Researchers found that when stem cells were exposed to particular growth factors, they tended to develop into certain cell families, such as muscle cells, brain cells, skin cells, etcetera. However, none of the growth factors caused the stem cells to develop into specific cell types like neurons or heart cells. The scientists have concluded that further research is necessary before they will be able to completely direct the development of stem cells into a direction useful in treating diseases.

Heart Stents Benefit Men And Women

When clogged arteries and a risk for heart disease necessitate angioplasty, heart stents have been shown to benefit both men and women in the long run.

Angioplasty is a procedure that clears fatty buildup from arteries by flattening it against the artery walls. A follow-up procedure is to insert stents, which are metal coils used to prop open the blood vessels. This has generally been seen as more dangerous for women than for men, as more women died after the operation was performed than men. However, a new study indicates that there is no risk difference between men and women a year after the procedure.

The study, which is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (volume 284; page 1799; October 11, 2000), was conducted by researchers from the Technischen Universitat in Munich, Germany. The study included 1,000 women and 3,300 men with heart disease. The women in the study were older and had more diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol than the men in the study.

In the first thirty days after heart stents were implanted, 3.1% of the women had a heart attack or died, as compared to only 1.8% of the men. However, after one year had passed, there was no difference between the men and the women, and both had a risk of 6% for heart attack or death.

Although more research is needed, the study authors hypothesize that women may be more likely than men to develop clots on the stents after initial placement, and may benefit from anti-clotting medication.

      

US/Japan Differ On Diabetes Drug Test 

Before they can be introduced to the market, all drugs must be thoroughly tested to make sure that they really work, and that their side effects do not create harmful health risks. Recently, the development of the diabetes drug zenarestat was stopped in the US because its risks appeared to outweigh its benefits.

Zenarestat was being developed by the Parke-Davis unit of Warner-Lambert Co., which is owned by Pfizer Inc. Researchers hoped that the drug would be able to treat neuropathy, which is a painful complication of diabetes that causes a loss of sensory perception in the extremities. However, in the third and final testing phase, researchers determined that the drug carried more health risk than benefit. Studies indicated that the drug could be toxic to the kidneys, and its development was cancelled by Pfizer accordingly.

However, the Japanese drug company Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co Ltd announced that it will continue the drug's development in the hopes of finding a viable treatment for neuropathy. The company will continue testing the drug in 600 mg doses, which is half the amount that was being tested in the US.

      

Smoking Linked To Kidney Problems

Numerous studies have indicated that people with diabetes who smoke develop kidney problems sooner than those who don't smoke. A recent study suggests that even those people without diabetes who smoke have an increased risk of developing kidney problems.

In a recent issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 133; pages 585-591; October 16, 2000), researchers from the University Hospital Groningen in the Netherlands published the results of their study involving 8,000 participants. Researchers found that those who smoked a pack of cigarettes or less each day were twice as likely to have albumin in their urine than nonsmokers. The presence of albumin indicates kidney problems. Those who smoked over a pack a day were more than twice as likely to have albumin in their urine.

Researchers hope that this study will encourage people to consider the health risks involved with smoking, and understand that diabetes is not the only cause of kidney problems.

      

Does Agent Orange Lead To Diabetes?

Vietnam veterans recently have advocated research into health risks associated with herbicides used during the Vietnam war. Recently, the Institute of Medicine determined that there may indeed be an association between exposure to Agent Orange and the eventual development of diabetes.

The Institute of Medicine conducted their study at the request of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). They concluded that there may be an increased risk for developing Type 2 diabetes in veterans exposed to Agent Orange. However, the researchers noted that risk factors such as family history, physical inactivity, and obesity outweigh the risks that may be associated with herbicide exposure.

Information provided by The Diabetes Mall @ http://www.diabetesnet.com 
Books, gram scales, and more: (800) 988-4772 or (619) 497-0900
Copyright © 2000 by Diabetes Services, Inc
Email Webmaster with suggestions.